With the new year fast approaching, let's have a look at the biggest – and potentially the best - games of 2014.

Mirror's Edge 2

Platform: Xbox One, PS4
Developer: DICE
Release: When it's ready

Another title that may not see the light of day in 2014, Mirror's Edge 2 is a treat just for existing in the first place. While the first game seems to split opinion, in some quarters it is considered a masterpiece – a platformer that kept on giving long after you thought it would. It's a travesty it didn't go on to greater commercial success, but that's what this sequel is for: to right the wrongs of yesteryear.

Thief

Whether or not you're a fan of the long-running series, it's hard not to feel Thief's constant delays have burst the bubble a tad. Whereas once it seemed like an interesting re-imagining of a cult hit, it's now starting to become a bit like a bad smell. Putting that aside, though, Eidos Montreal seems to have a good idea of what it wants to achieve, and the likes of Dishonored – which have gone for a similar tact – will only spurn them on harder, we hope, to be more creative. Potentially a decent title for the start of the year.

The Division

Let's face it: if Rainbow Six: Patriots is anything to go by, we may never even see The Division. An incredibly ambitious project with 'proper' next-gen visuals to boot, Ubisoft better do all it can to ensure this is actually a thing, and not just a concept that would be cool if it was actually achievable. With Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed next year The Division could easily be a 2015 release, but either way, it should be mind-blowing.

EA Sports UFC

Platform: Xbox One, PS4
Developer: EA Canada
Release: 5 May

Dana White may have once publicly declared war on EA, but the man is, if nothing else, very smart when it comes to business. While the THQ UFC games were very good, they weren't a patch on EA MMA, a sports sim that took the presentation and gameplay values of other EA Sports products and applied it to the world of mixed martial arts. Not a lot has been shown of its debut with UFC, but the snippets that have look exceedingly good, much like a Mr Kipling cake. Mark it on your calendars.

Fable Legends/Fable Anniversary

If you're into Fable then you're in for a treat come 2014. Not only do you get a remake of the original game – which may still be the best of the lot – but you get a brand new co-op adventure to boot, too. There is a sense of intrigue around them too, as these are the first Fable titles where Peter Molyneux hasn't been involved. That's either a good or bad thing depending how you look at it, and could even allow the series to thrive once more.

Halo 5

Platform: Xbox One
Developer: 343 Industries
Release: September

Teased at this year's E3, Halo returns to the Xbox next year and damn, does it have some serious pressure on its shoulders. Even though Halo 4 was certainly not a disappointment, it did fall a little flat in terms of what past games in the franchise have achieved. Coming out on a new console will help it no end, but surely this is the time for Halo to introduce new ideas into its template? If it doesn't, the same old Master Chief-related antics may just not be enough anymore.

Sunset Overdrive

Platform: Xbox One
Developer: Insomniac
Release: 2014

Aside from what we saw during a pretty silly trailer at E3, what the hell is Sunset Overdrive? Insomniac hasn't been on the most powerful of runs recently – depending on how you felt about Resistance 3 – and one of its last games (Fuse) was actually terrible. Find that word in the dictionary; Fuse will be right next to it. As an Xbox One exclusive, mind, the developer has the chance to introduce a new series to a new console and create some waves. Make or break time? Potentially...

Project Spark

Platform: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC
Developer: Team Dakota
Release: 2014

Considering it was originally planned to launch alongside the Xbox One, Project Spark has gone awfully quiet as of late. A genuinely interesting little title – think LittleBigPlanet meets SimCity meets Minecraft – the sheer amount of creativity that's on offer is very impressive indeed. Whether or not it'll 'spark' – sorry – interest with the public is another matter. If we do take this as Microsoft's answer to Sackboy, you can bet your bottom dollar that the Redmond firm would want it to do better commercially than LBP: hence the delay?

Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze

Platform: Wii U
Developer: Retro Studios
Release: 21 February

Do you want/need/yearn for another Donkey Kong game? Isn't there a part of you that thinks 'Hmm. Maybe I had my fill with the last Donkey Kong which, while good, probably means that the franchise could wait a little bit before returning'? That's how we feel anyhow, but when all Nintendo has to announce is that f**king Cranky Kong is now playable, well, it's the end of days. Not sure why we're that mad about it. We like DK. It just seems ill-timed…

Dark Souls 2

It does not matter this isn't coming out on next-gen consoles. Where many games would suffer for making such a move, Dark Souls 2 exists within its own bubble of love where a rather large portion of gamers will do anything for it. The appeal is certainly obvious – in this age of hand-holding nonsense, From Software's RPG stands out beautifully – and if the studio behind it can somehow find a way to keep the core foundations intact and grow its install base, this could be another classic.